I'm still reading Silent Spring. I'm on chapter 13 with 4 chapters yet to go. We didn't have enough to worry about racing along on the 'highway to climate hell'. It's the same road on which we are ignoring signs warning of chemical hazards sixty years after Rachel Carson's book. The under-regulated production and use of chemicals continues. WHO reports that there are 40,000 to 60,000 manufactured chemicals in commercial use. They are found in herbicides, pesticides, foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, cleaning agents, clothing, fire retardants, packaging, air, water, soil, plants, animals, babies, grownups, and everything else. Please tell me that chocolate isn't on the list.
Commercial chemicals are implicated in many health issues: decreased fertility, gender dysphoria, genetic disease, developmental abnormalities, diabetes, immune disorders, allergies, cancer, and the cranky mood of demented geezers like me. It's scary. Some farmers won't eat the food they sell. It's going to take more than an executive order from Emperor Sanctimonius Caesar to fix this.
By the way, if I didn't name your favourite disease as one that might be involved with chemical exposure, go ahead and add it to the list. More research required.
As for me, when I was a kid, I suffered from patches of inflammation and scaly skin; that is, eczema. I suspect that the cause was the antibacterial soap Mum used on us because of her bacteriaphobia. Those little beasties had to die. She didn't know that a population of many different skin bacteria keeps the pathogenic ones in check through competition. If you kill off everything, you set up your skin as an ideal home to receive whichever germ arrives first after the bath. The new orthodoxy on washing is "less is better". Who would have thought? I skipped my shower yesterday. Today I showered, so we can hug. While we're at it, my back is itchy. There, ahhh, now a bit to the right.
I feel a little guilty. Dad worked for a chemical company, so our family lived off profits from the products they sold. The same company helped me through university with a summer job. Back then, you could have called me Denny Dimwit for all I knew about careless use of problematic substances. Now, after all these years without a clue, I am finally reading Silent Spring. Just call me ;D. That's a sideways emoji of me winking and grinning, like thank goodness I'm ;Done. I mean, it's your problem now. You should learn some chemistry. I hope you do better at this than I did.
Let me help with that. Don't forget the second law of thermodynamics. Whenever you do something, you make a mess; and even cleaning up a mess makes a mess. We thought we could fix things and now we are drowning in a mess of unintended consequences. You can do better.
Quoting what Einstein never said but would have if he had lived another few decades:
1. God plays dice.
(The universe is arbitrarily dangerous and beautiful.)
2. People play the odds.
(We do what we can to improve our chances.)
3. Smart people play the violin.
(We want to make things more beautiful.)
4. Wise people practice with earplugs.
(Be ready for unintended consequences.)
Life is 1% what happens to you,
9% what you do with what you get, and
90% cleaning up your mess.
Almost done the lesson.
Don't fail the final exam.
Let me make it simple.
Exactly.
If you are smart, you think you know
the question and the answer.
If you are wise,
you know that you don't know,
so you keep on asking.
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Environmental Chemicals and Autoimmune Disease: ScienceDirect
Environmental Toxins and Infertility: National Center for Biotechnology Information
Intersex Variation and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Sage Journals
Association of Pesticides with ADHD and ASD:
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Alzheimer's:
National Center for Biotechnology Information
